


Lovestruck Losers

by megastarstrike



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Character Development, Fighting Internalized Homophobia, Fluff, Friendship, Multi, Mutual Pining, or attempts at it, wingmaning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-06-26 23:03:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19778281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megastarstrike/pseuds/megastarstrike
Summary: After a series of revelations that culminated in spilling their hearts out to each other, Ryuji, Ann, and Futaba decide to help each other steal their crushes' hearts.It turns out none of them are subtle, good at wingmaning, or have any clue what they're doing.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to tackycrows for betaing. love u loser

There were only so many hours a person could take sitting in a stuffy van with their friends, no matter how much they were appreciated. Futaba learned that the hard way.

The Phantom Thieves were at least a few hours into exploring Mementos at this point. Everyone’s statuses were at varying levels of exhaustion, Haru’s enthusiasm barely dented while Makoto looked ready to faint at the driver’s wheel (and she still deflected Akira’s insistence on taking the wheel. What a nerd). In the passenger seat, Yusuke peered through the window (Was it a window if they were inside a cat? Futaba decided she didn’t want to know) with his usual observant gaze. Ryuji, Akira, and Haru sat on the right side of the car with Akira in between the two. Futaba herself was squeezed in the backseat between the car door and Ann, her vision limited by  _ someone _ insisting that Morgana install seatbelts in the van and Morgana taking that someone seriously.

Makoto met her glare in the rearview mirror and looked away before she could say anything. They both knew what it was for.

Thankfully, Ryuji finally spoke up and broke the twenty minutes of silence. “Ever since we started doin' this, I've been sleepin' through basically all my classes.”

Futaba bit back a laugh at the immediate disappointment scrawled over Makoto’s face and the sigh from Morgana. Still, Ann was the first to speak.

“Uh, you did that before, too.”

Ryuji leaned over to send her a challenging glare. “How would you know? You’re always asleep, too.”

“Not this year. Just ask Joker.”

Akira only shrugged, to which Ryuji groaned and accused Ann of using him as a weapon. Neither Akira nor Ann disagreed.

“Skull,” Makoto called, “it seems you’re having trouble in your classes. Do you need help studying?”

Ryuji sighed and shook his head. “No, I’ll be fine. I’m sure you have enough third-year things to worry about. Thanks, though.”

That and studying with Makoto was a guaranteed death sentence. Futaba had never experienced the terror herself, but she had seen Ryuji walk into enough walls after Makoto had given him a lecture long enough for his head to spin. It must’ve been a terrifying experience for Ryuji to evade his fate so smoothly.

Huh. That would be a great ability in battle. Education: minus five SP, high chance of afflicting dizziness.

“Then would you like to study with me?” came Akira’s voice.

Everyone in the car collectively froze, though neither of the two seemed to notice.

Ryuji ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck. His face was suspiciously pink. “Jeez, you’re really gonna give me that look?”

Futaba had no clue what look he was talking about, but she could imagine.

“Fine.” He slung an arm over Akira’s shoulders. “How can I say no to my best friend?”

It took a moment of thinking for Futaba to realize most people wouldn’t hesitate to do so, especially someone as loudmouthed as Ryuji. And with that revelation came the observation Ryuji had looked away to peer out the window, his arm still around Akira’s shoulders. She couldn’t see the expression on Akira’s face, but she was willing to bet the rest of her soul that it was a soft smile.

So, Akira and Ryuji, huh? All the evidence seemed to be pointing that way.

She hummed to herself, hiding a smug smirk behind her phone.

* * *

Contrary to popular belief (and possibly reality), Ryuji was not dumb. At least, not as dumb as people took him for. Whether that sentence applied to him in the social realm was up for debate, but he liked to think he picked up on behaviors and nuances people exhibited more easily than others.

Case in point: him and the other Phantom Thieves having to watch Ann giggle and twirl her hair at her phone.

They were currently squeezed into Leblanc’s attic. Futaba and Haru sat in front of the television screen, playing some kind of game about farming together. Akira took up the entire space of his bed like a jackass and dozed off with Morgana curled up next to him. Makoto and Yusuke were in separate corners of the room, Makoto reading a book while Yusuke sketched. It was a rare moment of silence among their group.

Ryuji sat on the couch beside Ann, wincing when another lock of hair was tossed into his face. “Jeez, what’s got you in such a good mood?”

“I’m texting Shiho,” Ann said. “She makes better jokes than all of you combined.”

“We  _ are _ the jokes,” Futaba murmured under her breath, to which Haru shot her a concerned look.

“You’re right, but—Oh! She just sent me a selfie!”

Ryuji held back an eye roll when Ann’s eyes glittered and her breath hitched.

Ann flipped her phone around, showing the picture to everyone else as if it was her pride and joy (and honestly, it probably was). “Look! Isn’t she so pretty?”

The others made a show of ooh-ing and ah-ing at the picture. Ryuji followed suit, though Ann raised an eyebrow at his compliment (What, complimenting someone’s hair was weird now? Okay, Ann). Once the show was over, she held the phone towards her and typed away, her nails tapping against the screen.

Yeah. There was no way she wasn’t lovestruck.

Ryuji raised his own phone to his face in an attempt to tune everyone out, only to be met with a faceful of blonde hair.

Thanks, Ann.

* * *

Ann loved the other members of the Phantom Thieves more than life itself, that much was obvious. What wasn’t obvious was her keen eye for behaviors and details if she tried hard enough.

Still, she didn’t think she needed to try with something this obvious.

Ann and Ryuji watched from a booth as Yusuke and Futaba worked on various projects. It was rare that the two were silent, though with them being so engrossed in what they were doing, it wasn’t a surprise in the slightest. Predictably, Futaba had a laptop in front of her and tapped away at the keys while Yusuke’s hand carefully speckled paint onto a small, rectangular canvas in front of him. They sat next to each other at the counter even after Sojiro had told them long ago to at least have to decency to hide themselves in a booth. Oh, well. Sojiro was out now, and Akira turned a blind eye to it while he worked.

“They’re so quiet,” Ann whispered. “What do you think they’re doing?”

Ryuji, incapable of being quiet at any time in his life, snorted and said, “Futaba told me about this video game she was making, but she told me off when I asked what it was about. As for Yusuke, dude can be doing anything, really.”

“Can you quiet down?”

“Why would I?”

Ann could see Akira frown and prepare to intervene, then the sound of fingers tapping away at a keyboard stopped. Three heads turned towards the silence.

Futaba’s blank stare on the computer screen had moved to Yusuke, his hands more specifically. Her gaze trailed the brush’s movement and the way his fingers flexed with every stroke. Her eyes were glazed over with curiosity, fascination even. That was probably the first time Ann had seen her face actually look alive that day.

On the other hand, Yusuke was consumed completely by his art. Even from the distance, Ann could tell his intense, calculating gaze was focused solely on trying to get his vision on the canvas before it could disappear.

Ann briefly wondered how Futaba would react to that passionate gaze being locked onto her.

Wait. Was that what she wanted?

Ann took one more fleeting glance at Futaba, and that was all she needed to confirm her suspicions. Ah, young love. If you ignored the fact Yusuke was in the same year as her and Futaba was only one year below, that is.

Ryuji raised his eyebrow. “You good?”

Ann giggled into her hand, her lips settling into a soft smile. “I’m good.”

* * *

**[16:04] Futaba:** Hey!  
**[16:04] Ryuji:** Shit, a DM. Never a good sign.  
**[16:04] Futaba:** Shut up. Just come to karaoke with me. I need to accuse you of something.  
**[16:05] Ryuji:** Are you kidding me? Karaoke?  
**[16:05] Ryuji:** Fine. But can we invite Ann? I’ve got something to say to her too.  
**[16:05] Futaba:** That would be perfect, actually.

**[16:10] Ryuji:** Futaba says we gotta meet up for karaoke.  
**[16:11] Ann:** Huh? Why?  
**[16:11] Ryuji:** Beats me. All she told me is she wants to accuse me of something.  
**[16:11] Ann:** Oh, then I have to go. I’ve been meaning to bring up something with her ;)  
**[16:12] Ryuji:** I don’t trust that smile.  
**[16:12] Ann:** You shouldn’t.

* * *

After some time, the three were finally gathered in a karaoke room, each taking different positions on the brown couch. Ann crossed her legs and leaned back against the couch with an anticipatory smile. On the other hand, Ryuji had his hands in his pockets and back slouched as usual. He had placed his foot on the table once, received a glare from Ann, and slowly set it back down. Futaba had thrown all manners out the window and took full advantage of the couch, lying on her back and stretching to take as much space as possible. Her being herself, that wasn’t much space.

And of course, all three winced at the wild screams from next door.

“Ugh,” Ann said. Her smile was gone. “These people really suck…”

“You’d think these rooms would be more soundproof, but I guess not,” Futaba added. She paused, then stretched her leg to poke Ryuji’s knee.

Ryuji pushed her leg away with the gentleness of a baseball bat smashing into a statue. He rolled his eyes at her whines. “I don’t wanna be here any longer than I have to. What’d you call us here for?”

Futaba blinked, then sat up. “Oh, right. That.”

“You forgot?”

“No, of course not.” A blatant lie, but they rolled with it anyway. Futaba grinned, and Ryuji and Ann couldn’t help but think she resembled a smug cat. “Anyway, Ryuji’s a pretty stupid guy, but I found him being even dumber.”

Ryuji rolled his eyes. Any protest would result in him being steamrolled immediately. Two against one was never fair.

“Not so fast,” Ann said, her eyes sparkling. Her leg bounced up and down in excitement, and it became clear she had been keeping this in for some time. “You’re not completely innocent either, Futaba.”

“Neither are you,” Ryuji said. He straightened his back and leaned forward, glad to finally have some leverage over the conversation. “Looks like we’ve all got accusations. Wanna just say it on three?”

Futaba and Ann shrugged and began the countdown. A few seconds later, they arrived on three, and the accusations came tumbling out.

“You’ve got the hots for Shiho!”

“Akira’s charm was super effective against you!”

“You have a crush on Yusuke!”

A few seconds of dumbfounded silence followed their accusations, then their eyes went wide as they scrambled to defend themselves.

Futaba was the first to shake herself out of her shock. “I don’t have a crush on Inari of all people! He’s so stupid!”

“And I’m not gay!” Ryuji shouted, his voice so loud they were certain the room next door could hear. “Why the hell would I be gay for my best bro?”

The acts of incredulity came crashing down with Ann’s shaky smile and trembling hands. “What? I don’t like Shiho that way, silly! That’d be a real hoot, wouldn’t it?”

Futaba and Ryuji stared blankly at her before locking eyes and silently agreeing that was the worst lie they had ever heard. They redirected their accusing stares at Ann.

Ann crumbled under the intensity, her smile dropping and shoulders slumping. She sighed. “Fine. I’ve had a crush on Shiho since the first year we met. Happy?”

Again, Futaba and Ryuji shared a nervous glance. This wasn’t supposed to end up like this.

They took a seat on either side of Ann. Ryuji tossed his arm on her shoulders while Futaba nestled herself into Ann’s side. The warmth the position brought would have been unbearable if the karaoke room wasn’t freezing cold. Ann leaned into the contact gratefully.

“Thanks, guys,” Ann said, managing to muster up a small smile before it fell again. She turned her phone over in her hands. “It’s just really stupid, you know? She was the first person to talk to me without it having to do anything with my looks and just see me as… me.”

Right. Futaba had heard bits and pieces about Ann’s past, and Ryuji regretted ever becoming a bystander in her life. But there was still one difference between them…

Futaba wriggled closer in an attempt to mask the confusion on her face, but both of the other two had noticed.

“Oh, right,” Ryuji said, “You haven’t met Suzui yet.”

Finally, the smile stuck on Ann’s face at the mention of Shiho. “She’s my best friend! I love all of you, but she always has first place in my heart.” 

“That’s such a cheesy line,” Futaba snickered.

“Nothing wrong with some cheese. Not my favorite, but…” Ann chuckled. “Falling in love with your best friend is a pretty cheesy thing, isn’t it?”

Ryuji put his feet on the table, this time meeting no resistance from Ann. “You can say that again. It’s kind of bullshit how easy it is.”

“You mean you…”

He hesitated, tapping his feet. Was this the right decision?

Ryuji sighed when Futaba spread herself across his and Ann’s laps and stared up at him expectantly. Ann had turned her body to face him as well. “Yeah, you were right. Fell in love with Akira like a dumbass.”

“It’s okay. I think everyone had a thing for Akira at some point,” Futaba said.

“I know, but this is different.”

“How?”

“I’ve had this crush since Madarame’s palace.”

That was… a long time ago. Even Futaba could tell that much, judging by the pained expression on both their faces.

Ann took in a sharp breath. “Ouch. That’s, like, a year now.”

Ryuji’s eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. “For real? It’s been that long?”

“Hate to say it, but yeah. You’re kind of lovesick.”

He groaned and pressed his back into the couch, smacking his forehead with his palm. His face was flushed from embarrassment. “God, this is pathetic. And I only just realized it two months ago.”

“Not pathetic,” Futaba said. She had taken her phone out and began playing a shitty rendition of Tetris in a failed attempt to look casual. Her trembling thumbs gave her away. “Akira’s charm is maxed out. And you’ve been by his side for forever, right? It’s a pretty common romance trope for a reason.”

“I guess you’re right… Still, took me a lot of time to figure that one out.” Ryuji furrowed his eyebrows and snatched Futaba’s phone out of her hand. He needed to change the subject immediately. “Actually, how long did it take  _ you _ to figure it out?"

“My lifeforce!” Futaba waved her arms wildly in a failed attempt to grab her phone back. She pouted at Ryuji and Ann’s laughter, then crossed her arms. “Fine, I’ll spill. I don’t really remember. I just took one of those crush quizzes online, got a weird answer, took ten more, then realized I wouldn’t need to think about it this hard if I didn’t really have a crush on him. It’s so stupid.”

Ann giggled and reached over to poke her cheek. “Aw, is this your first crush?”

Futaba’s face reddened, and she swatted Ann’s finger away. “Shut up! It is not!”

“Really?”

“... It is.”

Ryuji laughed. “Man, and I thought  _ I _ had it bad. You just had to go and fall for Yusuke of all people, huh?” He handed her the phone when Ann elbowed him. “You can have this back. I figure we’ve put you through enough hell as it is today.”

Futaba snatched the phone back but not without sticking her tongue out at him first. “Whatever. You’re mean. I’m telling Akira you’re bullying me.”

“You tell him everyone’s bullyin’ you.”

“Yeah, fair.”

“Anyway,” Ann said, eager to pull them back to the subject at hand. She didn’t reschedule her modeling appointment for this. “Let’s make a group name!”

“Group name?” Futaba echoed.

“Yeah. You know, since we’ve all got one thing in common.”

“The Bully Ryuji Club?” Ryuji muttered.

Futaba sat up, almost bumping her head against Ryuji and Ann’s as she sat back next to Ann. “Nope. Morgana isn’t in this, so it isn’t appropriate. Come on, Ryuji, use that head for once.”

“Well, eff you, too.”

“Oh, how about the Smackdown Squad?” Ann said. “You know, since we take down shadows and stuff?”

“And each others’ self-esteem…” Futaba mused. She hummed in thought. “Matchmaking Morons? No, scratch that. None of us have a high enough charisma stat for that. Let’s go with Dumb Bitches Anonymous.”

“But we’re not really anonymous, are we?”

Ryuji scoffed and folded his arms behind his head. He had homework to do. And by that, he meant he had homework to ignore for four hours until he realized playing video games and reading manga was probably the worst use of his time. “How about just calling ourselves Lovestruck Losers and getting it over with?”

Futaba and Ann stopped, then stared blankly at him. His skin prickled from the intensity.

Ryuji fidgeted under their stares. “What? Did I say somethin’?”

“Ryuji!” Futaba cried, holding a hand to her heart dramatically. “You said something smart for once!”

“You sure we shouldn’t be the Bully Ryuji Club?”

“That’s brilliant!” Ann added. She typed away on her phone. She waited a few seconds later for their phones to buzz before elaborating. “I made a group chat for us. It’s called Lovestruck Losers. Thanks for the name, Ryuji.”

Ryuji offered her a peace sign before opening up the chat. He sighed at Futaba’s immediate reaction to pull all sorts of weird tricks with the privacy settings but understood. “But for real, thanks. I… I really needed to talk to someone about this.”

“You’re not the only one,” Futaba mumbled, her eyes fixed on her phone. “It was getting pretty rough just thinking to myself.”

Ann pocketed her phone and grinned. “I’m glad we’re not alone.”

All of them were. Both Ann and Ryuji had parents (well,  _ parent _ in Ryuji’s case) who loved them but was away from home often and were avoided at the only other environment they had to socialize with people. Meanwhile, Futaba’s only experiences around people in general prior to her isolation were far from pleasant. The Phantom Thieves was the only place they felt they belonged, where they weren’t alone anymore.

Still, that left them with one problem.”

“Well,” Ann started, “what do you wanna do now?”

The three stared at each other, perplexed. They had just spilled their hearts to each other, but knowing how to handle the emotional outpour from that wasn’t their specialty and neither was planning ahead. What was their next move as the Lovestruck Losers?

“I dunno,” Ryuji said. “Wanna do some karaoke while we’re here?”

Ann’s eyes sparkled, and she leapt up from her seat, Futaba barely managing to roll out of the way before she could be launched across the table. “Ooh! You know that really stupid song we sang last time we were here? The one about hating everything?”

“You wanna sing that one? Weird, but alright.” Ryuji stood up as well, grabbing the microphone off the table as Ann punched the letters of the song’s name into a remote controller. He shot a smirk at Futaba. “And you’re singing with us, too, got it? I’d be damned if I’m lettin’ you miss out on all the fun.”

“But recording and embarrassing you guys later is all the fun!” Futaba whined. Still, she sat up and placed her phone face-down on the table.

In the end, they became the screaming, tone-deaf group they had hated at the beginning, but that was okay. Who needed musical talent when you had the best friends in the world?


	2. Chapter 2

It was far past having second thoughts about this whole operation. Futaba was having fifteenth thoughts, one for each horrible suggestion someone had made that she had to shoot down mercilessly. It wasn’t even a combo.

“I’m just sayin’,” Ryuji said, holding his palms up in defense as Ann glared at him. “Playin’ sports is a great way to bond with people.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to die by being hit in the face with a volleyball!” was Ann’s frantic response. She had been the most enthusiastic about this group out of all of them, but now that she was put in the hot seat, it seemed she was also having fifteenth thoughts. Maybe even sixteenth thoughts.

“C’mon, you know Suzui would never do that to you.”

“We met when she told me my painting sucked.”

“Oh, right. I always forget about that.”

Futaba rolled her eyes and tapped away at her phone.

Ann had dragged them into a sweets shop to “discuss plans,” but it was obvious to everyone she just wanted an excuse to buy a lifetime supply of macarons and consume them all in one sitting (honestly, same. Futaba couldn’t judge her when she had done the same thing with Sojiro’s curry pot while catching up on anime). After an hour of arguments and teasing, none of Ryuji’s suggestions were worthy of even thinking about, Ann still had no clue how she wanted to proceed, and Futaba had stolen at least five percent of Ann’s macaron collection. So at least this meeting wasn’t completely worthless.

“Ugh, this is hopeless,” Ann sighed. She picked up another pink macaron and took a tiny bite out of it. “We haven’t made any progress at all.”

“You can’t just give up now!” Ryuji whipped around to Futaba. “C’mon, Futaba. You’re our resident genius, right? There’s gotta be something you can do.”

Futaba raised an eyebrow but set her phone down. They must be desperate if they were asking her of all people for their next step. “I can’t do anything if I don’t know who Suzui is.”

Both Ann and Ryuji stopped, took a moment of silence, and groaned simultaneously. If they weren’t in such a stupid situation, Futaba would’ve called it impressive.

Still, the thought of meeting someone new, someone who was dear to her friend… It made her nervous. Some misstep was all it took for the entire minefield to explode, and unlike in Minesweeper, you couldn’t start over with a new game.

Ann eyed her curiously before her eyes flooded with understanding. “Oh, you don’t need to worry about meeting Shiho. She’s a total angel, she’ll love you.”

Then the door clicked open, and a pair of dark brown eyes fell on Ann. The eyes widened. “Ann?”

Ann’s face immediately brightened, and she shot out of her seat to face the girl quickly approaching them. “Shiho! You’re here!” She opened her arms.

Ah, of course. Speak of the angel. Futaba really should’ve seen this coming.

Shiho fell into her arms and held her in a tight embrace. “I missed you!”

“I missed you more.”

“No, I missed  _ you _ more.”

Futaba watched them bicker back and forth, slowly taking in what exactly she was seeing. All her fears about meeting Shiho were erased when Ann poked her on the cheek and teased her, to which Shiho pouted. In fact, all her doubts about Ann’s love being unreciprocated were eradicated along with it.

They were so clearly in love even Futaba could see it. How stupid did Ann have to be to not notice?

She exchanged a look with Ryuji, who looked even more exasperated than her.

“This is what I had to deal with for years,” Ryuji sighed. He patted her on the shoulder before standing up and slinging an arm around Suzuki’s shoulders. “‘Sup, Suzui? Whatcha doin’ here for?”

Shiho giggled at Ann’s huff. “To be honest, I was just craving something sweet after volleyball practice. I didn’t expect to find you guys here.”

“That’s my champion!” Ann cheered, to which Shiho stammered out a denial.

Upon first glance, it seemed Ann was right; Shiho was the farthest thing from a mean person. From the bits and pieces of the story behind the original quartet of Phantom Thieves she knew and eavesdropping on their conversation, she could deduce Shiho had recently picked up volleyball again after setting it aside to focus on physical therapy, they had indeed met after Shiho said Ann’s painting sucked to her face (a new meet-cute trope?), and Futaba should really trust Ann’s judgement of people more. It seemed like they would be able to get along.

“Oh, yeah,” Ryuji said. He retracted his arm and gestured over to Futaba. “We wanted to introduce you to someone. Suzui, this is Futaba. Futaba, this is Suzui.”

Anxiety pierced through her like an arrow upon Shiho’s curious gaze falling on her. Futaba fidgeted as she stood up, stepping closer to Ryuji. She could do this. She had her friends with her, after all.

“It’s—It’s nice to meet you, Suzui,” Futaba said quietly, her chin digging into her chest. Her stare burned into the floor, but she forced herself to hold a hand out. “Ann… Ann talks about you a lot.”

Shiho sent her a smile as bright as the sun as Ann scrunched her face (Come on, Ann, Futaba was the wingman of the century). She shook Futaba’s hand gently. “Please, call me Shiho. Any friend of Ann’s is a friend of mine.”

“Then you can call me Futaba, I guess.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Futaba.”

“Uh, you, too.”

And that was that. Futaba retreated back into her seat, smiling when Ryuji gently patted her on the head and Ann directed a sunny smile of her own at her. Ann returned to chatting with Shiho while Ryuji occasionally interjected with his own thoughts.

It was nice. Painful to watch her friend be so oblivious, but nice.

* * *

As soon as Shiho left the building, Ann’s smile slipped from her face, and she sighed while turning back to the crepes on the table. “I’m hopeless.”

Ryuji’s disbelieving gaze darted from the door and back to Ann. “Are you… Are you serious? You know she likes you, right?”

Ah, Ryuji, ever the subtle man. Never change.

Ann let out another dramatic sigh. “Yeah, but we’re best friends. Anything could mean anything.”

“Nice way with words.”

“Ann,” Futaba said gently, “I know all my romance experience comes from anime and dating sims, but… you definitely at least have a chance.”

Ann only offered them a tiny smile before cramming another macaron in her mouth.

Futaba’s heart sank. She had scoured enough articles on TV Tropes to know what was going on.

Maybe… and this was just a wild assumption, but maybe Ann had become so used giving her affection freely, giving everyone her all, all the time. She had become so used to it she didn’t know how to react when it was genuinely reciprocated. Sure, her shows of affection bounced off Shiho’s perfectly, but Futaba suspected that was years of seasoned friendship at play.

Now that she thought about it, maybe her looks had something to do with it? That was one of the reasons other students had largely ignored her, after all.

But there was time to worry about that later. For now, there was one job Futaba had, and she’d be damned if she didn’t fulfill it.

Futaba slapped some yen on the table in front of Ryuji, tilted her head towards the cashier, and said, “A strawberry crepe for the other member of our party, please.”

Ryuji furrowed his eyebrows, confused. His gaze fell on Ann before he finally understood and stood up to approach the cashier.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Ann murmured. Still, a smile had blossomed on her lips. “But thanks. I appreciate it.”

Futaba gave her a double thumbs-up.

* * *

Ryuji didn’t sign up for this.

Well, technically, maybe he had. Futaba had drafted up a ten-page contract for their group and sent it bit by bit in a group chat, expecting everyone to send an electronic signature. Ryuji signed without reading a word of it, and he suspected Ann did the same. Reading was for nerds. But that didn’t mean he wanted to sit at Leblanc for two hours talking about Futaba’s dumb crush.

“He’s just so effin’ weird,” Ryuji sighed. “We can’t predict how he’ll respond to any of our plans.”

Ann elbowed him. “Don’t call your friend weird.”

“I mean, he is. And it’s not like I’m sayin’ it in a bad way…”

Futaba only shrugged when Ann glanced at her for backup. “What can I say? Inari’s a weirdo.”

“Who are you calling a weirdo?”

Huh. That voice wasn’t from one of them.

Alarms rang in Ryuji’s head, and he slowly tilted his head to meet Ann’s equally panicked gaze. Across from them, Futaba looked like a deer in the headlights.

“Hey, Yusuke,” Ann greeted, giggling nervously (god, she was horrible at acting. Ryuji locked eyes with Futaba in mutual understanding that their friend was a loser). “Completely irrelevant question, but how much of that did you hear?”

“I walked in when Futaba called me a weirdo.”

Ann let out a sigh of relief while Ryuji’s shoulders relaxed. The worry was erased from Futaba’s face, but she hadn’t turned to greet Yusuke yet. Actually, she looked a little pale…

Apparently Ryuji was the only one who noticed, because Yusuke took a seat next to her without a care in the world and pulled out his sketchbook out. He flipped past a photorealistic image of Leblanc’s interior (unsurprising considering how much time they all spent here), a disaster of colors (Ryuji never really got all this fine arts shit), and a portrait of Morgana holding his head proudly (arrogant bastard), before finally settling on a page full of… doodles of a cartoonish Futaba.

Futaba, to her credit, was doing a fine job of not imploding on the spot. However, that was a sad, sad baseline, and she still sent Ann and Ryuji the most desperate look he had ever seen.

“While it was… grueling drawing outside my usual art style,” Yusuke said as he ripped the page out of his sketchbook. His sketchbook. The thing he would sooner die than damage. “I believe this is what you requested. Thank you for allowing me to experiment and broaden my horizons, no matter how difficult it was for me to set aside the horrific anatomy this style entails.”

Futaba finally glanced up at him with wide eyes. “It was a joke, you know.” Nevertheless, she took the paper and put it to the side, careful to keep it away from the puddles of water around her glass. “But… thanks. Really.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

Ryuji exchanged a glance with Ann.

Was… Was Futaba, the resident genius of their friend group and possibly the country, this dumb? The guy literally sketched her in a style he wasn’t comfortable in and tore a page out of his sketchbook for her. How obvious could it get?

_ Do something, _ Ryuji urged with an intense glare. He hoped their time since middle school and their partnership in the Phantom Thieves would be enough for Ann to catch onto what he was saying.

Luckily, it was. Ann put a cheerful smile on her face and said, “So, found any new inspiration?”

Holy shit, that was the one smart move Ann had ever made in the history of her life. Yusuke could yammer on about random art things for years. Ryuji wanted to record it for the obvious historical significance it had, but he got the feeling he would be gutted as soon as he pulled his phone out. But Ryuji’s filter had been broken since he was born, so he gave voice to his thoughts.

“Holy shit,” Ryuji breathed, “did you actually just say something smart?”

The smile slid off Ann’s face, and that was when Ryuji realized maybe he shouldn’t have said that out loud. “Ryuji! I say plenty of smart things!”

Well, if nothing else, this was a change in topic. 

“Like what?” Ryuji asked.

“Like… Okay, at least I get better grades than you in English.”

“Don’t avoid the question!”

Yusuke had busied himself with sketching an outline of something while Futaba watched, amusement flickering in her eyes. She giggled at a particularly painful insult by Ann and made a sizzling noise when Ryuji responded with something equally painful.

It took approximately half a second for Ryuji to take a look at the outline of a face on the paper and Yusuke’s occasional glances at Futaba to know exactly what he was drawing.

Yeah. Maybe Futaba wasn’t as smart as they all thought.

* * *

Futaba’s gaze returned to the sheet of paper next to her after Yusuke left Leblanc. She opened her mouth to say something, then quickly shut it as her eyebrows furrowed into a frown.

“Hey, turn that frown upside down,” Ann said. “You have more of a chance than you think.”

“Understatement of the damn century,” Ryuji snorted.

Futaba sighed and brought the paper in front of her. Her gaze softened. “Stupid Inari…”

Any further attempts to talk to her were ignored. It seemed she had raised a wall around her, encapsulating herself in another galaxy. It was frustrating…until Ryuji realized maybe, just maybe, she felt she didn’t deserve love.

God, he was dumb.

Despite her change of heart earlier in the year, the Phantom Thieves weren’t able to erase every bit of trauma from her past. With the life Futaba had led, who knew what kinds of other shit she had to deal with? Who knew what other lies the…  _ things _ in her cognition had been telling her? How had he not made that connection before when he felt the same way years ago?

While he couldn’t confirm it, he could do the next best thing.

“Yo, Futaba,” Ryuji said, climbing over to the other side of the booth. He threw an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t you feel a bit bad for Tetris blocks? They’re just searching for a place to fit in, like us.”

Futaba slowly roused from her trance, then set her dead gaze on Ryuji. “Did you just pun at me?”

“Did I?”

“I hate you,” she said, a grin splitting her face. “Words can’t express how much I hate you right now.”

“That is kind of sad, though,” Ann murmured.

Ryuji threw his head back and cackled, his laughter dying when he realized Sojiro had walked in and was now eyeing the arm around Futaba.

He pulled it back and returned to his original seat, sticking his tongue out when Futaba snickered.

* * *

Ann… was tired. Just having a particularly long photoshoot was enough to render anyone exhausted, but after arguing with Ryuji and Futaba over what to do about Akira (while in Akira’s room, waiting for the rest of the Phantom Thieves to arrive. They certainly were the most enthusiastic trio—they made no claim to be the smartest), she could barely keep her eyes open.

“What do you mean you can’t just seduce him?” Futaba whined. She pulled her legs up to her chest, curling in on Akira’s bed. Which was made of crates and a blanket. Ann worried for Akira’s back. “Just take your shirt off, say something in a cartoonishly deep voice, and pray he doesn’t laugh. It’s not that hard.”

Ryuji, who had been leaning back against the frame of the sofa, suddenly shot up despite the yawn he had just made a few minutes ago. “Oh, shut up! We both know none of us can just go up and do that.”

“Pff, coward.”

“This is really the hill you wanna die on, huh?”

“We’re not even on a hill.”

“You know what I mean.”

Their argument was cut short upon hearing quick footsteps ascending the stairs. Haru? Makoto? Yusuke?  _ Akira? _

“Quick, act natural!” Ann hissed.

Right after her words, Akira burst into his room and was met with the sight of Futaba with her face swallowed by the hood of her hoodie (glasses be damned; Ann wasn’t sure how she managed to pull on the strings of her hoodie that quickly without any regard for her vision), Ryuji lying face-down on the floor like a corpse (which she felt so deeply in her soul she couldn’t help but smile), and Ann staring intently at the text of a book she only now just realized was upside-down, nevermind the fact she wouldn’t be caught dead reading outside of class. Maybe that’s the story they could have for being caught like this: Blond male teenager falls dead after attempting to read book upside-down, friend picks it up and attempts to complete the mission for him while other friend mourns under hoodie swirl. More at seven.

Akira’s concerned gaze swept over the trio before landing on Ryuji. “Is he dead?”

Futaba made a noise from behind her hoodie swirl.

“Oh. Who killed him?”

“I ain’t dead yet,” Ryuji grumbled, his voice muffled by the floorboard.

Akira smiled and sat down beside him. “Glad to hear it. Have you been getting enough sleep?”

Ryuji raised his head to give him an incredulous look. “Who are you, Morgana?”

“Hey!” Morgana called from the bag over Akira’s shoulder. He leapt out and climbed onto the table in the middle of the room. “Sleep is important for everyone, especially rascals like you.”

“Is this an effed up way of caring for me?”

“I don’t care about you!”

Ah. The daily (more like hourly, at this rate) Ryuji-Morgana fight, this time surprisingly wholesome considering the two slung insults at each other like it was nothing.

Then Akira frowned and cupped Ryuji’s cheek, examining every detail through narrowed eyes (and somehow not noticing the way they burned bright red when their skin made contact. Or maybe he did and just didn’t comment on it. It wasn’t like Ann could tell). “There’re bags under your eyes. How much sleep have you been getting?”

Ryuji furrowed his eyebrows. He glanced at Ann and Futaba, only to be met with Futaba’s face still hidden behind her hoodie swirl and Ann’s gaze still burning into the pages of the upside-down book.

They were great friends. Amazing friends. She promised.

“Um… like, five hours a night?” Ryuji answered.

Akira’s frown grew even deeper. “Ryuji, you need at least seven. Anytime you get less, you’re dead.”

“I know, I know. Just thinkin’ a lot.” And to Ann’s surprise, Ryuji ignored Morgana’s quip of “You think?”

“Have you been eating properly either?” Akira asked. “And don’t tell me these are the same clothes you’ve been wearing for the past two days.”

“Jeez, I’m fine.” Ryuji continued to fend off Akira’s questions with unsatisfactory answers, and Akira kept prodding him for a satisfactory answer, a cycle that would surely never end in the next decade.

Futaba turned her face towards Ann, somehow looking completely done even without an inch of her skin being visible.

Ann had promised herself she would be nothing but supportive to the two friends she had entrusted with her feelings, but thoughts of rescinding that promise crept into her head, intensifying as she watched the Akira’s mother-henning turn into teasing.

Was Ryuji this much of a dumbass? Ann felt like he was much smarter in junior high, when he told Ann he suspected a girl in their class liked him and ended up rejecting her gracefully later in the year. Did he just drink a can of dumbass juice every day until he turned out like this? Not knowing Akira’s blatant flirting was indeed flirting? Though to be fair, Akira’s flirting looked more like mother-henning at first glance.

Ann sighed as the other Phantom Thieves walked in, and the meeting began.

* * *

The walk back home was an uneventful one.

Ann and Futaba stood on either side of Ryuji as he mumbled to himself, occasionally kicking at the sidewalk.

“You okay, Ryuji?” Ann asked. Futaba glanced up as well, not quite having the courage to ask directly but the sentiment still present.

Ryuji stayed silent.

What was he bitching about this time? Answered a question in class wrong after staying up too late reading manga? Something in the aforementioned manga didn’t go well? Forgot something back at school?

Or maybe Ryuji’s bullshit ideas of what masculinity looked like had finally gotten to him and this was the end result: not being able to comprehend someone of the same sex having a romantic interest in him. As if he shouldn’t be allowed to like boys because “real men” liked women. Like showing any sort of vulnerability would suddenly revoke his male membership ID.

Then it clicked.

Of course he would struggle with his feelings. He already had a hard enough time as it was coming to terms with himself and opening up to her and Futaba. How could she expect him to be so comfortable accepting that a guy, much less his best friend, reciprocated those feelings? Could he even picture himself in a relationship with a boy without guilt?

Ann’s own adventure with her identity hadn’t been a pretty one. Nobody needed to feel that level of doubt and insecurity.

But what could she do? It wasn’t like Ryuji would admit that anytime soon. All she could do was be there for him, and damn it, she’d be the most there person ever.

“Hey,” Ann called. She waited until Ryuji turned to look at her. “Wanna come over to mine for a sleepover? Parents are never there, so…”

Futaba’s head snapped up, her eyes wide. “A sleepover?”

“Are you just gonna put makeup on me?” Ryuji groaned.

Ann laughed, both at his words and at her latest memory of putting the gaudiest eyeshadow she had on Ryuji when he fell asleep first at a sleepover. “No, no. Just something fun between friends. I promise we won’t make fun of you too much.”

He paused. “Is it really okay for me to sleep over with two girls?”

“If you don’t accept, I’m dragging you anyway.”

“Fine, fine,” he sighed. Despite the annoyance on his face, his gaze softened and his lips curved into the smallest smile. “Well, whaddaya say, Futaba? You in?”

Futaba shuffled her feet, staring holes into the ground. “Well, um…” Then she tilted her head up again with a bright grin. “Sure. I’ll text Sojiro.”

Ann’s heart warmed as the other two burst into discussion about what to do and what to bring.

Distracting Ryuji from his insecurities had been her primary goal, but if she got a sleepover out of her scheming, she wouldn’t object.

* * *

So it turned out marker was a bit harder to wash off than anticipated.

Makoto raised an eyebrow upon seeing Ann and Ryuji pass the school gates, a pair of lightly faded whiskers drawn on Ann’s face and Ryuji with exaggerated, cartoonish teeth (which were much more well-drawn than either had expected. Ryuji teased her about it, earning him the angry frowny face drawn on his chin).

She sighed and looked away, shaking her head. Wise choice, considering she would be met with the sight of hastily drawn glasses on Futaba’s face while she had her normal glasses equipped later that day.

Holy shit, that was a thing. Ann’s new phone wallpaper was a picture of the three together with doodles drawn on their faces.

“Yo, what time is it?” Ryuji asked once they walked into school.

Ann turned on her phone, only to be reminded of her poor wallpaper setting choices.

They took one look at the wallpaper before bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cant believe theres actually gonna be character development in this  
> strap in yall idk what im doing  
> Also would you want every character getting something in each chapter equally or a chapter to focus on one person and the next focus on another?


End file.
